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I stretch lazily while I contemplate it, a pleased purr rumbling in my chest when her eyes stray to my stomach that’s been exposed by my movements. “I think we’re ready to complete the final steps of the rune circle, so we should do it in the forest and get a feel for the magic we’ll need to connect to. That way we’re prepared.”
She nods distractedly and I let my arms drop, lips twitching when she startles, her eyes meeting mine shamelessly. She spins on her heel, not blushing in the least. “Well, come on then,” she calls over her shoulder when I don’t immediately follow her.
I roll my bottom lip between my teeth to suppress a smile.That’s more like her. Some of the tension in my shoulders eases and I let out a breath. “Coming.”
Chapter Twelve
Nessa
Istalkoffahead,swallowing a groan.He totally caught me ogling him. Biting the inside of my cheek to suppress the blush that wants to surface, I act like I’m owning that shit on the outside, when internally I’m cringing. I’ve been doing that a lot lately, more so than before attending the Academy of Magic. Shaking off the odd feeling squirming in my stomach, I turn my focus to the campus as I push through the door. Fresh air swirls around me and I suck it in gratefully. It clears away some of Corin’s bonfire scent. It’s surprisingly strong even for an A-level monster, which is unusual. My head cocks to the side as I contemplate it. Adding that, along with the multiple other unusual things about the man, I honestly have no idea what to believe and it’s like an itch I can’t scratch, not knowing his secrets.
Now that we’re outside, Unicorn launches off of my shoulder to fly beside me, staying cat-sized for now. I let out a breath and some of the stiffness in my body releases when I step into the forest, its calming ambience wrapping around me. I move a few feet into the treeline to wait for Corin and plop down onto a boulder.
After about twenty seconds or so, the spot between my shoulderblades begins to tingle and I have to consciously keep my body loose. Someone’s watching me. I examine the feeling as I surreptitiously glance around the area and don’t spot anyone, other than a faint flash of white, but that could just be the light playing tricks on my eyes. Picking up on my change in mood, Unicorn lands on my shoulder and chirps softly. I focus on dissecting what my magic is picking up on, and realise whoever it is doesn’t have any obvious malicious intent and ignore the feeling for now. I give Unicorn a chin scratch, mumbling that it’s okay to her before she takes off again, flying through the trees around me but still sticking close.
Fiddling with a stick, I grin lazily at Corin when he finally reaches me. “What took you so long?” I ask, cocking an eyebrow.
“Had to take a phone call.”
I dip my head once in acknowledgement then get to my feet again. “So, which clearing do you want to go to?”
“I found a new spot the other day. It’s a little further in than we usually go, though…”
I bounce on my toes, excitement buzzing through me. I’ve explored a lot of this part of the forestry, but I’m also pretty cautious about running into guards so I tend to stick to denser areas and away from the outer edges. The Academy only hires strong A-class monsters to work for them, usually more volatile species mixtures to protect us if the barrier should fail. “Sounds good.”
I easily keep up with Corin’s long strides as he leads me off the path and towards some unknown location. It hits me that in light of the recent events with Ethan, I should probably be worried right now, but there’s something inside me that just explicitly and intrinsically trusts Corin. That he would never intentionally hurt me or Unicorn. And having that level of trust with someone I’ve only known for a few months scares me far more than being alone in the middle of the Epikíndynos Forest with him does.
After a few minutes, I’m questioning Corin as I look around. Unicorn lands on my shoulder, having given up trying to fly through the dense forestry and I’m biting the inside of my cheek, debating on whether I should question Corin on if he’s sure we’re going the right way. All I can see is thick tree trunks. The tree's trunks have grown so big that he has to turn his massive frame sideways to fit through the gaps between them. I’ve been this way before and stopped a ways back because of how dense it gets. It is also super dark and when I tip my head back all I can see is the shadowy underside of the treetops that are blocking out the sun.
I’m about to voice my confusion when he shoves through a seemingly impenetrable wall of trees. Like literally walks through them as though they aren’t there.
I stumble to a stop, blinking stupidly at the spot he was before he vanished. Unicorn jerks on my shoulder, almost tumbling off at my sudden stop and lets out a chuff, sticking her head out to sniff at the treeshe passed through.What the…?I suck in a quick breath. Suddenly Corin’s head and upper body appear again, sticking out of the spot he disappeared through. Unicorn flinches and shoots him a dirty look. He has a frown on his face as he gestures at me, merely quirking a brow at Unicorn. “Well, come on.”
Startled, my body responds to his words instantly and I find my feet bring me closer as my brain struggles to catch up. He disappears again and as I step through the trees I glimpse movement to my left and swear that I see Ghost Girl, watching me. Then I’m through the trees. Unicorn lets out an undignified squawk as we come through the other side of the glamoured trees and promptly jumps off my shoulder to flutter into the air. She seems visibly uninjured so I turn around to face the trees, face scrunched up. “Did you see that?” I ask, ready to step back through the trees to see if she was actually there or not, the question aimed at both Unicorn and Corin.
“See what?” Corin asks, and I spin around to face him only to pause so my eyes can adjust. Too focused on Unicorn, then the flash of Ghost Girl, I didn’t have a chance to see what was beyond the glamoured trees we just passed through. The area is substantially darker than the forestry we were just walking through, even with it shaded by the treetops, so it takes my eyes a few seconds to adjust. It’s as dark as night here. A night with no moon or starlight. That has to be some strong cloaking magic, done by a strong A-class or even possibly an O-class monster for it to look so realistic. I blink repeatedly, squinting for a moment before freezing as my eyes get used to the different lighting. The sight has my mind blanking.
“Nevermind,” I murmur, staring past Corin. He’s standing a few feet away from me, but I barely acknowledge him as my eyes lock onto the tree standing in the centre of a clearing that the magic was cloaking. It must be at least four stories high and the base is so thick that if Corin and I stood on either side of it and hugged it, our hands wouldn’t touch. It would probably take six or seven Corin-sized people to hug the tree and have their hands touch. And he’s long-limbed at seven feet tall. Large reticulated roots span out around the base and faintly glowing plantation sprouts amongst it. The kicker though? Is that the entire thing is glowing faintly like it’s covered from head to toe in blue bioluminescence. I tip my head back and squint to study the highest spot of the tree’s branches that I can see and find glowing moss, flowers, vines and other unidentifiable glowing plant matter clinging to the tree’s bark. Their glow seems to have a more greenish hue and is brighter than the tree itself.
The glow doesn’t seem to be off-putting to Unicorn, and I gasp when she lets out a roar and shifts mid-flight to her full size. Her usually skeletal appearing, scale covered body, is now more gold and dark blue. Faint flashes of purple rippling over her when she comes in contact with one of the plants as she glides through the space, having an absolute ball. It makes me wonder if she’s been here before.
A shaky puff of air falls from my lips and I drag my eyes off of the beautiful view in front of me and focus on Corin, who has turned to watch Unicorn as well, lips parted in surprise. “What the hell is this place?” I whisper.
His eyebrows furrow as he turns to gaze at the tree. Though he’s side-on to me, my eyes catch the moment he bites his bottom lip in thought as he watches Unicorn briefly land on one of the tree’s branches, only to launch off again with a loud series of happy chuffs. I roll my lips in, holding back a smile. She’s like a kid in a candy-shop, and it’s frankly, fucking adorable. “I’m not really sure. I haven’t had a chance to look around much, but there is something I wanted to ask you about. Something else I found here. To get your opinion on,” he says slowly.
“Sure,” I murmur, dragging my eyes away from Unicorn long enough to give him a nod.
“It’s something I kind of have to show you for it to make sense. It’s at the top of the tree though…” He trails off, giving me a crooked smile.
I purse my lips like I’m seriously reconsidering it, then laugh when his eyes widen as though he’s worried I’ll leave. “You’re giving me an invitation to check out the top of a giant glowing tree, of course, I’m in,” I say, still chuckling. My eyes flit from his swirling ones to the top of the tree and I bite my cheek. “One problem though, how the hell are we going to get up there? Actually, how are you going to handle getting up there? It’s high as hell.”
Unicorn swoops by us letting out another roar and an idea pops into my head, but before I can voice it, Corin ruins my fun. “Don’t worry, there are stairs that go up the trunk of the tree.”
I twist my lips to the side, giving him my best version of innocent eyes. “Are you sure you’ll be okay on the stairs? I’m sure I could convince Unicorn to give us a ride—”
“No!” Corin blurts, eyes like saucers as they jump between Unicorn and I. She’s still having the time of her life exploring the space, moving her body through the air in all different ways. She lets herself fall, spiralling before she catches herself at the last second then doing it all over again. Corin clears his throat, face a little paler than before. “Thank you for the offer Nessa, but the stairs are good. Great actually.”
I nod, chest shaking with silent laughter. Goddess, I’m an ass, but it’s so humanising to see the big, strong Corin scared of something, I can’t seem to help it. To make up for it I dart past him and pause to kiss him on the cheek before racing off towards Unicorn with my hands in the air. She swoops low, banking around me before flying back up in the air.
